Presidential Communications (PCO) Acting Secretary Cesar Chavez unveiled that recent findings from experts on digital media and artificial intelligence (AI) have vindicated President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from malicious accusations.
In July, a video surfaced showing a man purported to be Marcos allegedly "sniffing" illegal drugs. The video emerged just a day before Marcos delivered his third State of the Nation Address (SONA).
AI experts from the Deepfakes Analysis Unit (DAU) reported that the video had been heavily altered to falsely depict the man in the footage as Marcos. The DAU's findings were confirmed by Vera Files' extensive report.
The report stated that DAU, using a tool called SensityAI, found the "polvoron video" to be suspicious, showing evidence of manipulation known as a "face swap."
The report also noted that using another tool called HIVE, international misinformation advocates detected multiple instances of manipulation throughout the video, where genuine footage and deepfake elements overlapped.
On July 23, the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) debunked the video's authenticity. Both agencies stated that the facial features of the man in the video did not align or match with those of President Marcos.
Their video spectral analysis results showed that the tragal notch and antitragus (ear parts) of the man in the video were different from those of the President.
Chavez cautioned the public to be vigilant about deceptive videos and social media posts being spread by malicious individuals.
“In today’s world of trolls, bots, and deepfake manipulation, it has become easy to throw mud at others,” Chavez said.
Chavez further stated that the government will continue to be vigilant against fake news.
